


the time is drawing near now

by calcliffbas



Series: Elements 101 [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Study, Companionable Snark, Conversations, Dialogue Heavy, Episode: s03e19 Sozin's Comet Part 2 The Old Masters, Gen, Male Bonding, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:13:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26718823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calcliffbas/pseuds/calcliffbas
Summary: “I just wanted to say, uh. I’m sorry I wanted to leave you to freeze to death at the North Pole.”“That’s cool,” Zuko says. Then – “Wait, what?”Before the Comet, Sokka and Zuko try to have a Deep and Meaningful Conversation. As you’d expect, it’s a bit of a mess. Featuring Boomerang, bears, and the boys.
Relationships: Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Elements 101 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926430
Comments: 7
Kudos: 111





	the time is drawing near now

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Phil Collins, ‘[Son Of Man](https://open.spotify.com/track/1LhFadk0aWYczltTjIbFlI)’.  
> If you want to chat _A:TLA_ , ‘Elements 101’, or you just want to say ‘Hi’, I’m on [Tumblr](https://calcliffbas.tumblr.com/)! :)

> ‘It _is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale.’_
> 
> – Iroh, ‘Bitter Work’.

Zuko is sitting on his bedroll with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. He breathes in, and breathes out.

_Power in firebending comes from the breath_.

He fills his lungs and holds the breath – two, three, four – and then exhales – two, three, four.

_Fire is life_.

_I understand_ , he thinks to himself. _I understand now, Uncle._

He is tired, after spending the night waiting for Uncle to wake up, but he is _forgiven_ , and he can still feel the warmth of Uncle’s arms around him. Uncle smells of jasmine tea, and it is a much nicer smell than his sandals.

And so he doesn’t feel like he’s in danger of falling asleep as he takes the time to meditate. He and Katara will be leaving soon, but being with Uncle again has reminded him of the importance of his discipline. He shouldn’t neglect his training.

“Anyone in here?”

Zuko opens his eyes as Sokka pokes his head into the tent.

“See that?” The Water Tribe boy asks as he ducks in and spreads himself out on his own bedroll. “That, right there? That’s called announcing yourself. You do it so you don’t walk in on anyone. Now you know.”

Zuko winces. “I didn’t need that reminder.”

“But you deserve to never forget it, as long as you live.”

Zuko extinguishes the candles and can’t help but think about the symbolism there. “I mean. That might not be a very long time.”

Sokka pulls a face. “ _Oof_ , way to suck all the good vibes out of here, buddy.”

“Would you rather I was happy-clappy and made an emotional speech about hope?”

“Somewhere out there in camp, I’m pretty sure Katara suddenly just got mad at you for something, and she doesn’t know what.”

“Maybe,” Zuko manages to smile. It’s a joke, she doesn’t hate him, and being part of the group means being part of group hugs.

“But, yeah, don’t do the happy-clappy stuff.”

“I’m never happy,” Zuko responds.

“You don’t have to tell me twice, buddy.” Sokka carefully lets his hair down and runs his hand through it, and then lets out a deep breath. “So.”

“So.”

“Sozin’s Comet is… arriving today.”

“Sokka.”

“And so, you know, there’s kind of a lot going on today.”

“ _Sokka_.”

“What?”

Zuko sighs and looks at Sokka. “What do you want to say?” He asks flatly.

“Nothing! I’m just talking!”

Zuko sighs and folds his arms. Toph calls it his Grumping Dragon dance form. She’s got no respect for culture.

“I liked it better when we talked about clouds,” he mutters.

Sokka laughs. “I liked that, too. You were awkward.”

“ _Whatever_.”

“But, uh,” Sokka scratches the short hairs on the side of his head. “So now we’re talking.”

“Unfortunately.”

“I’m just saying, times like this… it makes you think about what the important things in life are.”

Zuko nods slowly. He can’t deny it. He’d literally been meditating when Sokka came in. “I guess so.”

“What, you’re not going to interrupt me?”

Zuko blinked. “Uh, no?”

Sokka looks a little perturbed by this. “Oh. Sorry, the last time I had a revelation like that, Aang just kinda jumped in on me.”

“Kinda wish he’d jump in on us now,” Zuko mutters.

Sokka nods fervently. “ _Yeah_. But, anyway, I was thinking about the important things.”

“Oh, yeah,” Zuko does remember him saying words to that effect. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool. I just wanted to say, uh. I’m sorry I wanted to leave you to freeze to death at the North Pole.”

“That’s cool,” Zuko says. Then – “Wait, what?”

“In my defence,” Sokka holds his hands up. “You were in your Prince Ponytail phase, and we kind of had an invasion of angry jerkbenders to deal with.”

“That’s rough, buddy,” Zuko stammers, still kind of hung up on the part where he was knocked unconscious in the middle of a blizzard. “But you were just gonna leave me out there to _die?_ ”

Zuko wonders whether allowing him to die of hypothermia due to inaction would have counted as murder. He decides it doesn’t matter because it had taken place at the North Pole, and he figures the Northern Water Tribe probably wouldn’t have cared either way. Or they might have cared a lot and thrown Sokka a big party for his smart thinking. Whatever.

“I mean, Aang said that wasn’t cool, and he got you onto Appa,” Sokka shrugs. “So it worked out. But, uh, yeah. No hard feelings.”

“Um,” Zuko rubs at his temple gently. “That’s kind of wild.”

He had tracked the Avatar across the world, tied him up and dragged him through the ice and the storm, and his enemy had shown him mercy. Aang had said that killing the Father – the _Fire_ Lord would go against everything the monks had taught him.

Zuko remembers looking up at Zhao and feeling a desperate fear for his countryman as the ocean took him away, and he thinks he might understand.

_You tried to kill me!_

_Take my hand!_

“Guess he was serious about the monks,” Sokka says vaguely, before glancing at Zuko. “You know, with the whole no-killing thing.”

Zuko nods. “Guess so.”

But now Aang was standing on a bridge at the Northern Water Tribe, and Father was there in the air, but it isn’t Aang holding out a hand to the Fire Lord, it’s Father reaching out a hand to Aang, and Aang is kneeling and crying and the hand is on fire –

Zuko is very careful to hold Sokka’s gaze and not hide the left side of his face.

“And I guess you were right about that whole learning from other elements thing,” Sokka says.

Zuko has taught Aang how to guard his left side. He’ll be _fine_. But he’s not listening to Sokka, and Uncle would disapprove. “Sorry. I’m listening, I swear. Um, pardon?”

Sokka huffs and rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t seem too offended. “What I’m saying is, Elements 101 was actually pretty cool.” He frowns. “Yeah, saying it twice doesn’t make it make any more sense.”

Zuko picks at the cuff of his tunic. “Sorry to hear that.”

“But, then again, I didn’t think bringing you back on Appa with us to the Spirit Oasis made a lot of sense, either.”

“I can get that.” Zuko shifts. He can respect what Sokka’s saying. He _had_ been a bit of an idiot back then.

“And, obviously, you know, if we’d gone with my plan, you’d be dead. But we went with Aang’s idea, and – well, things didn’t _all_ turn out perfect, but I think they’ve gone okay, you know?”

“Guess so,” Zuko says again, but he’s a little preoccupied as he thinks about what Sokka’s saying. “Yeah, I’m pretty okay with not being dead.”

He’s had a sister become his enemy and then try to kill him, and now he has Sokka, who had once tried to kill him and now calls him _buddy_.

He thinks it’s sort of crazy how both the Water Tribe siblings have wanted to kill him at some point. Hopefully if – _when_ the war is over, it won’t turn out to be an innate disposition shared by everyone in the Water Tribes. That would make the peace talks a bit tricky.

“I think I’m quite glad you don’t hate me anymore,” he says eventually.

Sokka looks a bit relieved that Zuko is handling things pretty well. “Right? So, yeah, I guess I learnt that from Aang. Don’t just kill your enemies, ‘cause they might come in handy one day.”

They’d been talking about Uncle’s Avatar stuff earlier, hadn’t they? “Sounds like you really drew on wisdom from different places.”

Sokka laughs, but he nods his head anyway. “Just a shame you put on all those classes, and now Aang’s going to flunk the final exam. But yeah, still. Pretty cool.”

Zuko isn’t amused. The fate of the world is on the brink. He’s not happy about it.

But Sokka keeps chattering away. “Reminds me of this time we were in a Fire Nation town, actually. I mean, he got set homework in class one day, and the next day we were _outta there_ –”

Really, he isn’t amused. The world might end tomorrow. He’s _never_ happy.

Sokka eventually catches sight of Zuko’s expression, and his babbling slows down and eventually tails away. “Uh, sorry. But, you know, it’s still cool to learn this stuff.”

That takes Zuko by surprise. He blinks. “I wasn’t sure you were interested.”

“Why, because I’m not a bender?”

“No,” Zuko says, choosing not to rise to the challenge and instead set down some bait of his own. “Because you heckle everything.”

Sokka looks downright offended. “That just proves I’m interested! If I _know_ what I’m heckling, then I’m _clearly_ paying attention!”

“Oh.” Yeah, Zuko’s totally convinced. “Well, I’m glad you liked it.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of interesting, but, you know – not being a bender, it’s not really something I’ve got too much to say about.”

Zuko manages a small smile. “That’s never an issue for Uncle. He talks about the elements all the time. Even the ones he can’t bend.”

“I get what you mean. My dad, he’s not a bender either. But he talked about the element of surprise a lot. I don’t know if that counts, but…”

“It can count.”

“Oh, really?”

Zuko’s feeling generous. The world might end tomorrow. “Sure.”

“Oh, cool. ‘Cause I wasn’t sure if should count.”

“I don’t know if most of what my father told me should count,” Zuko admits. “So, you know. Maybe we can trade off. So what your dad says counts for more than what my dad says.”

“Yeah, bro,” Sokka nods, but there’s sympathy in his blue eyes. “Your dad’s a dick.”

“Yeah,” Zuko says sadly. “Kinda sucks.”

They sit there quietly for a bit. Sokka fiddles with his boomerang and mimes throwing it, letting his arm go through the motions slowly. The other boy is sixteen too, and even though he likes to claim he’s nearly seventeen, Zuko knows from Katara that Sokka had celebrated his birthday three months ago with a cake he’d decorated with fireflakes, and then spent half an hour with tears streaming down his eyes and his tongue hanging out of his mouth, moaning _Ithh on fyyr, Ktah-ah!_

So he’s still young, and he’s still growing, but although his arms are wiry and his muscles aren’t bulging like the Rough Rhinos, Zuko knows not to underestimate Sokka in combat. He’d done that when they’d been sparring yesterday, and he’d been concentrating so much on Space Sword that he hadn’t seen Sokka’s fist coming until it had smacked him in the ribs.

A _Sokka-_ punch, he had called it. Toph had called him something quite rude and bent a stone wave to carry him off the courtyard. Katara had been quite miffed, but as Zuko had protested, _he_ hadn’t taught Toph that word.

He remembers now that Suki had looked weirdly shifty as Katara had lectured him about setting a good example.

Sokka continues to practice with his weapon. He’s moved on to making _whoosh_ noises now.

It’s all in the flick of the wrist, Sokka always says. He’s an excellent swordsman who excels in constant motion, but Zuko has noticed that he’s not so good when throwing the boomerang on the run. It hadn’t mattered much with Combustion Man – there hadn’t really been anywhere to run _to_ – but when they had been training at the Western Air Temple, Zuko and Suki had both noticed that his throwing was less accurate when he was moving.

“ _Whoosh_ ,” Sokka whispers. Zuko’s eye twitches.

He remembers that Suki had given Sokka a few tests and declared that it was because Sokka’s breathing was erratic and throwing his focus off. He needed to work on his footwork so he wasn’t off-balance when he was throwing. Sokka had nodded seriously and said he’d think about it, and Zuko hadn’t really had time to see him practice before heading off to find the Southern Raiders with Katara. But he had noticed that Sokka had been doing a lot better when aiming at Melon Lord.

Uncle had always taught Zuko that firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. He thinks that Sokka would probably have taken a lot less time to finally understand that than Zuko had.

“ _Whoosh_.”

Zuko’s about to break out his candles again when Sokka speaks up.

“My dad told me that being a man is knowing where you’re needed the most.”

Zuko blinks. “Okay?”

“That’s just what I always remember. Out of all the lessons he ever gave me. That’s the one that kind of stuck.”

Zuko thinks it over for a little while. “Uncle Iroh once told me that the only thing better than finding something you are looking for is finding something you weren't.”

_Destiny is a funny thing_.

Sokka furrows his brow, purses his lips, and strokes his chin. He’d been complaining about how he had cut himself shaving this morning. Zuko hadn’t been sure why he’d bothered. He still couldn’t grow a beard.

“I guess your uncle never went looking for the Avatar and found himself stuck with a bunch of kooky old dudes,” Sokka says eventually.

“Probably not,” Zuko acknowledges, although Uncle _does_ have previous when it comes to ending up in that sort of dumb situation by complete accident. “He did buy a tsungi horn this one time, though.”

Sokka hums. “I guess maybe Aang’s found what he’s looking for.”

Zuko frowns. “A tsungi horn?”

Sokka snorts. “No – he’s good with music, though. Did a good job with that orchestra. But, no, I don’t think a tsungi horn’s gonna help.”

Zuko’s lost. It’s not an uncommon experience when he talks to Sokka. He’s not sure it’s because Sokka’s kooky, or whether it’s because the Water Tribe boy is just that much smarter than he is. “Help with what?”

“You know. His final exam. He’s got to beat the Fire Lord for that extra credit cookie.”

“He’s got to _find_ the Fire Lord first,” Zuko says bitterly. “And then _fight_ him. Before the Fire Lord finds and fights _him_.”

“Well, if you couldn’t find him, I don’t think the Fire Lord will be able to.”

Zuko thinks that’s a compliment, but he’s not too sure. Sokka continues on before he can ask for clarification.

“So, wherever Aang is… maybe that’s where he needs to be. Where he’s needed the most.”

“And Momo,” Zuko adds.

Sokka frowns. “What?”

“Momo’s probably with him, too. Wherever he is.”

Sokka huffs. He’s probably still mad about how Momo flew off with his sticky bun the other day. Zuko would probably still be mad if that had happened to him.

“ _Yeesh_. Still. Guess I’d rather be stuck with Momo than with Bosco.”

“Who?”

“You know. The Earth King’s bear.”

Zuko tries to picture it, but he can’t quite do it. “Is Bosco, like… a platypus bear?”

“No, dude. Like, just a bear.”

He still can’t picture it. “ _Weird_.”

Sokka nods enthusiastically. “I know, right? Wouldn’t want to go travelling with him.”

“What?”

“Oh, yeah, you weren’t there for that part. See, Kuei went off travelling the world after Ba Sing Se’s colour scheme changed to Fire Nation red.”

Zuko still feels a bit bad about that, to be honest. Which is kind of surreal. He doesn’t think too many people get to experience conquering a city, let alone having conflicted feelings about it. “Did he not think he was going to be king again, then?”

“I honestly don’t know _what_ goes on in that guy’s head,” Sokka admits. “I think kings in the Earth Kingdom are just generally a few spices short of five flavors, you know what I’m saying?”

From what Zuko has seen of King Bumi, he cannot disagree. “Still. Hopefully he’s doing okay.”

“Yeah,” Sokka agrees, using his boomerang to scratch his back. “Well, hopefully he’ll be back. He was going to help us with the invasion, before… well, you know. Azula invaded.”

“Uh, yeah.” Zuko cringes. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s whatever, man. It’s Azula’s fault, mostly. But, yeah.”

“I, uh, thought there was no war in Ba Sing Se. How come he suddenly wanted to join the war?”

Sokka shrugged. “I dunno. It’s still whatever, though. Like, it took him a while, sure, but he wanted to do the right thing. I think that’s what counts, you know?”

Zuko wants to think Sokka’s talking about him, but he’s not sure. Sokka is a brilliant strategist and an outstanding swordsman, but he’s hopeless at subtlety. “Yeah, hopefully he’ll be back. Like, it would kind of suck if he’s been eaten by a bear, or something.”

“Not even a platypus bear.” Sokka shakes his head. “ _Weird_.”

“There’s this one kind of bear called a gopher bear,” Zuko says. “Do you think Bosco looked sort of like a gopher?”

Sokka sighed. “Zuko, I wanna make sense of this mess as much as you do, but Kuei’s out there with a bear and no gophers. Or gofers, either, come to think of it, ‘cause, you know, they went off on their own –”

“And you’re absolutely sure you’ve got no idea where he is?” Zuko cuts him off before he can start rambling. He’s watched Katara do it quite a few times and it’s always quite impressive. When Suki cuts him, it’s a little more gross, and it kind of gives Zuko the oogies, but he supposes that if the end result is that Sokka stops talking, it’s the least bad option.

“Oh, no, we keep in touch,” Sokka reassures him. “We talk about what it means to be a manly man that does what you gotta do to in order to be a good leader. I actually only sent Hawky off with an update two days ago.”

Zuko doesn’t know how safe a Fire Nation messenger hawk would be in the Earth Kingdom. “Really?”

Sokka rolls his eyes at him, which, honestly, seems a bit unfair. “ _No_ , Jerkbender.”

“Oh.”

“Look,” Sokka sits up and looks at him seriously. This must be one of those Manly Things he keeps talking about. “I get that you’re nervous. And you want to know how everyone’s doing. I get it, Zuko. I’m feeling like that, too. But I don’t think you _really_ need to know how King Kuei is doing.”

Zuko sighs and allows himself to meet Sokka’s eye. “I just want everyone to come through okay. You’ve, uh. You don’t need to protect Toph, or anything, but –”

“I know,” Sokka interrupts him softly. “I’ll make sure she gets through it okay.”

“What about Suki?”

“Suki’s going to make sure _I_ get through it okay.”

They share a grin and there’s a bit of a laugh, but neither of them really feels like it’s a funny situation.

“It’s just – it’s going to be dangerous.”

“But we have to do it,” Sokka says. “It’s where we’ve got to be.”

Zuko nods, because it’s true, even if he’s so _scared_ for them. For Toph, for Suki, for Sokka. He knows he has to say something, though.

“I just – when we were at the North Pole, I, uh. I didn’t say it to my uncle, back then, and I didn’t really let him say it to me, but…”

“I know, man,” Sokka assures him with feeling. “Me too. And that goes for you, too. I know it’s, uh, it’s going to be dangerous for you guys, too.”

Zuko nods absently. “I guess it would be kind of ironic if I didn’t die at the North Pole, and then I died in the Fire Nation.”

“That’s, uh – not really that funny, actually.”

He winces. It’s like Uncle’s stupid joke all over again. “Sorry.”

“I’m just worried about you.” Sokka sounds sincere when he admits that he cares. Zuko thinks it feels kind of nice.

“Katara’s going to be fine,” Zuko says quickly. He can’t tell jokes, but he can tell Sokka this. And what’s more, he can say it with complete confidence. Katara is _incredible_. “I’ll make sure she gets through it okay.”

“No, I know _that_ ,” Sokka waves at him in an impatient gesture. “Katara can handle herself. I meant that I’m worried about _you_.”

Zuko frowns, because he feels a bit confused and he’s not sure what facial expression best indicates confusion, but a frown or a scowl usually work for him. “You don’t think I can handle myself?”

“I think you make dumb decisions like going off into the middle of a blizzard, so yeah, maybe I’m a little concerned about your ability to think things through.”

Zuko doesn’t think they are _ever_ going to let him live that down.

“I’ll be fine,” he remembers telling Uncle the same thing quite a few times. Including before the North Pole, actually. Huh. “Look, you trust Katara. You can trust me.”

“I trust Katara to not let you make any dumb decisions.”

“That’s fair,” Zuko accepts this. Katara is probably the most sensible person in their group. Except for maybe Suki. He and Sokka both know they’re fighting it out for second-to-last place, and they can accept that.

“I think I trust Katara more because she’s with you, too.”

Zuko blinks. His confused frown is extremely confused right now. “Really?”

“I mean… you did bring her back. From your field trip. Safely.”

“Yeah,” Zuko admits. “I think she needed that.”

Sokka nods. “She seems better, now,” he says quietly.

“What?”

“She’s smiling more now,” Sokka explains. He has a soft smile on his face. Katara loves her brother, but Sokka loves his sister, too. “She’s better. More positive.”

Zuko thinks that’s because he’s gotten Toph to help with the dishes. Uncle had made him do the laundry in Ba Sing Se, complaining about how his old bones didn’t appreciate all the extra work after a long day on his feet.

And with Suki around on Ember Island to supervise Sokka on shopping trips, Katara hadn’t needed to go to the markets as much to make sure Sokka doesn’t bring back three whole possum-chickens without any rice or vegetables.

_Again_ , she had sighed, so that must have actually happened at least once.

But Katara’s had some more time to herself and to _be_ herself since they’ve joined up and joined in with cleaning up after everyone, so maybe that’s what Sokka’s talking about.

“I think she’s been doing better, too,” he agrees.

Sokka sniggers quietly. “How do you know? You weren’t here before you got here.”

Oh, right. “I mean she just seems really positive,” Zuko manages.

“Yeah. After you brought her back.”

“Yeah.”

“And now you’re going off together again,” Sokka says. Thanks, Sokka. Zuko had almost forgotten that minor detail on tomorrow’s agenda. “On Appa.”

“I kind of need to face Azula for the crown,” Zuko points out. He doesn’t explain what that face-off will entail. He has won an Agni Kai and he has lost an Agni Kai, and he’s very aware that the outcome of this one may define him.

“You do,” Sokka agrees. “I get it. Just – bring her back again, okay?”

“Well, it might not work like that,” Zuko points out. “She might bring me back, this time.”

Sokka squints at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just, you know. She might take care of me.”

“Okay, Jerkbender, what’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

_CrapCrapCrapCrapCrap –_

He needs a distraction. Luckily, he thinks he’s got one. “Uh. When did Aang went to a Fire Nation school?”

Sokka lets out a loud groan and slumps back onto his bedroll, and Zuko breathes a sigh of relief.

“Oh, dude, lemme tell you, I was _mad_ ,” Sokka’s voice is muffled by the pillow he’s holding over his face. “Honestly, buddy, you’re not going to _believe_ this…”

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Paul.
> 
> Any recognisable quotes are from _A:TLA_.


End file.
